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1 Cent - Orsi and Son Spokane, Washington
| Issuer | Orsi & Son (Spokane, Washington) |
|---|---|
| Year | |
| Type | Log in to see details |
| Value | 1 Cent 0.01 USD = GBP 0.0074 |
| Currency | Log in to see details |
| Composition | Log in to see details |
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| Printer | Log in to see details |
| Designer(s) | Log in to see details |
| Engraver(s) | Log in to see details |
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| Obverse description | Cream paper with an intricate guilloche border framing the entire note. The title FOOD STAMP PROGRAM runs across the top, with FOOD STAMP CREDIT below. Circular guilloche rosettes at left and right each bear the denomination numeral 1c; ONE CENT is inscribed in bold letterpress at centre. A store name line at lower centre carries a rubber-stamp impression for Orsi & Son. |
|---|---|
| Obverse lettering | Log in to see details |
| Reverse description | The reverse shows a blind letterpress impression of the obverse design, visible as a mirror-image bleed-through of the guilloche border, denomination numerals, and inscriptions. Handwritten manuscript notations in ink appear at lower centre, likely a store annotation. No additional printed design elements are present. |
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| Comments |
Orsi & Son was a Spokane grocery and import business that issued its own fractional scrip during the small-change shortages that periodically plagued the Pacific Northwest in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. Private merchant scrip of this kind was technically illegal under federal law but widely tolerated at the local level, particularly in cities like Spokane that were growing faster than coin supply could follow.
At 143 x 70 mm, this is notably large for a one-cent denomination — most fractional merchant notes ran considerably smaller. Whether that reflects a local printer's stock sheet size or a deliberate design choice to reduce loss is unknown.